A Huge Adventure
by W.Blackbird
Summary: Shmi, and her brother Ander go skiing when they aren't supposed to.


Prompt: Winter

Shmi was tiny, and she looked even more miniscule in her big fluffy coat, thick mittens, and knitted cap and scarf. She was four standard years old, and watching her brother, who was recently nine, ski down the mountain. He was practicing for later when the family was all going to go up the mountain together, and Shmi was sulking with envy: She wasn't allowed to join in, and had to stay behind with her grandfather. Shmi loved her grandfather, but she'd have far rather not been left out of the fun. Ander stopped in front of her, and smirked.

"Still pouting, Shmi?"

Shmi decided in the infinite wisdom of a four year old that putting her nose up, and looking deliberately away would convey her righteous indignation, and make him suffer. Ander just laughed.

"Awww, Shmi, don't be like that. If you won't talk to me, how am I ever going to know if you want me to give you a piggy back ride as I go down again?" Shmi turned her head so fast she could have given herself whiplash.

"Really? Or are you just saying that to be mean?" She pouted again, and again Ander just laughed shaking dark bangs out of his eyes as he did so. He tended to be rather happy-go-lucky.

"I'm not being mean, Shmi-Shmi." He said, as he held out his hand, holding his two ski poles in the other. "Come on. Walk up with me."

Shmi took his hand, stood up, and clinging to it, she walked up the steep mountain with her brother. She listened intently, when she wasn't distracted by the scenery of the trees and the white mountain range, of the stories her brother told her about how their ancestors used to go hunting, or even to war, with skis, or about proper technique to stay balanced, or about his first wipe out. The listening wasn't actually important, really. Shmi just liked knowing her brother was talking to her about cool, exciting, important things, because Shmi was four, and she was getting to be a big girl. She was glad Ander was her big brother, (right now she was glad), because he understood that.

"Alright, Shmi. Here's far enough, I say. Climb on my back, and hold tight."

Shmi did, and Ander, grasping both poles in his hands tightly, pushed to set them moving forward. They picked up speed, and the wind slapped at their faces, and Shmi could tell that Ander was straining, and using the Force to try and keep his balance when he had Shmi to deal with as well. Shmi with her limited training tried to help, and grasped for her own connection too. It didn't have the effect that she intended. Rather than helping Ander, she found herself in a state of fluidity where time had no meaning. She was simultaneously the past, present, and future. She was Ander zooming down the hill. She was an ancestor hunting in the wild. She was a soldier rushing into war. She was a hermit living in a cave. She was-

-catapulting forward as Ander found it impossible to keep his balance anymore.

"Look out, Shmi. Hold on!"

She tried. She really did, but she was lost in a separate world, and even though she knew she was going to hit that tree, she couldn't do anything to prevent it. She closed her eyes, terrified, and braced for the impact, tears pushing out behind her eyelids against her will. Then, Ander wrapped his arms around her, and turned their bodies so he took the blow.

Buried in the snow, Shmi retained her double vision. Lost in the future, she felt she was cocooned in yellow sand, and there were two suns in the sky, and she was overwhelmingly hot, but the sensation left. She was not in a sand bank, was that even real? She was in a snow bank. Could there even be banks out of sand? Could anywhere be that hot anyway? And if it were, why would you be there? Cold was better. Cold was home on Svea, and cold was how you knew love and security, because warm was found best when you were safe in your brother's arms and…

"Ander! Ander! Are you okay?" Shmi asked shrilly, as she turned around and sat up. Beside her, her brother had sat up too, and was holding his chest with his right arm, breathing shallowly and quickly.

"I'm alright, Shmi. I think I just bust a rib, but I'm alright. At least it wasn't you."

"I'm sorry, Andy. Really, I am, I…"

"It's not your fault Shmi. It was mine. I'll be fine. We just need to get back." Standing up again, wincing as he did so, he stepped out of the skis, picked up the poles and gingerly pressed forward.

"Come on, Shmi." He gestured with his head. "We're almost home."

Shmi nodded, but her heart was in her stomach. She had never felt so low. She had never meant for anyone to get hurt, but then Ander turned and looked at her, as if he felt her stress and guilt.

"Hey, Shmi." He tapped her on the head with his knuckles. "Don't look like that. It was a huge adventure wasn't it?" He winked at her, looking thrilled somehow, despite the grimace of pain on his face, and Shmi smiled back. He was right. That had been tons of fun, and best of all she'd got to do it with her brother.


End file.
